Irish(-American) Soda Bread!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What can I say? I may only possess 1/8 Irish blood, but I'm as excited to celebrate as anyone. I'm not really a "let's go to a bar and drink ourselves silly!" person, unless I'm with particular college friends, but I can wear green, and I can bake Irish Soda Bread.

Now, St. Paddy's, as practiced in the US, is not exactly Irish. Same deal with this bread. When I was little, my best friend's Mom was Irish, and she used to make traditional soda bread with anise seeds. It was good, from what I remember, but it was a bit tough and definitely not a sweet bread. From what I understand, that's what "real" Irish Soda Bread is.

But, well, I'm an American, and when I think really good Irish Soda Bread I think Breadsmith. Breadsmith is a mostly-mid-western bakery chain that happened to have a shop within a stone's throw of my college's freshman and sophomore dorms. On weekends, when the cafeteria didn't open until 10:30 for brunch, and I woke up at 8, I'd often go to Breadsmith and grab a muffin or mini loaf. Every March, they made Irish Soda Bread. And it was sweet and tender and delicious! Irish or "Irish" as it may be, I loved it. It makes a great breakfast or snack, and while you can slather it with butter or jam as you like, I think I like it best plain.

Most of the credit for this copycat recipe goes to Iain, who was kind enough to email me his take. I've made a couple of tiny modifications, but it's basically his. I may try again without the egg and with more buttermilk, as Breadsmith doesn't use any eggs. But yeah, this is super easy, really quick, and really tasty!

(Also, apologies for the lack of prep pictures. I apparently forgot that I was trying to document this.)

Ingredients
-1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
-2/3 cup all-purpose flour
-2 TBL sugar
-1 tsp. baking powder
-1/2 tsp. baking soda
-3/4 tsp. salt
-1/2 cup raisins (dark or golden or a mix)

-1/4 cup chopped, dried apricots
-2/3 cup buttermilk (or soured milk--put 1 TB vinegar for every cup of milk and let sit for 10 minutes)
-1/2 stick butter
-1 egg
-1 TB honey and 1 TB hot water, for glaze


Procedure
This is as easy as it gets, folks. 
1)Pre-heat the oven to 375°F and grease a baking sheet. If you don't have buttermilk on hand, sour your milk so it has time to rest prior to being mixed. 
2)Mix your dry ingredients (flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, dried fruit) in a medium bowl. Melt the butter and mix with the egg and buttermilk. If your oven isn't pre-heated yet, wait until it is before proceeding. You don't want the completed dough sitting around before baking or it won't rise as well.
3)Working as quickly and as gently as possible, mix the wet ingredients into the dry until the dries are barely incorporated. Dump this shaggy batter onto the center of the baking tray and use your hands to form it into a roundish lump. If you like, use a sharp knife to slash an X on top. 
4)Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
5) To glaze, mix the water and honey together until a syrup is formed. Using a pastry brush, spread the glaze over the top and down the sides of the cooling bread.